Related papers: Diamond Detectors for Direct Detection of Sub-GeV …
Dark matter in the sub-GeV mass range is a theoretically motivated but largely unexplored paradigm. Such light masses are out of reach for conventional nuclear recoil direct detection experiments, but may be detected through the small…
Semiconductors are by now well-established targets for direct detection of MeV to GeV dark matter via scattering off electrons. We show that semiconductor targets can also detect significantly lighter dark matter via an absorption process.…
We propose the use of superconducting nanowires as both target and sensor for direct detection of sub-GeV dark matter. With excellent sensitivity to small energy deposits on electrons, and demonstrated low dark counts, such devices could be…
Dark matter (DM) particles with mass in the sub-GeV range are an attractive alternative to heavier weakly-interacting massive particles, but direct detection of such light particles is challenging. If however DM-nucleus scattering leads to…
We propose the use of silicon carbide (SiC) for direct detection of sub-GeV dark matter. SiC has properties similar to both silicon and diamond, but has two key advantages: (i) it is a polar semiconductor which allows sensitivity to a…
We describe a novel search for MeV-to-GeV-mass dark matter, in which the dark matter scatters off electrons in a scintillating target. The excitation and subsequent de-excitation of the electron produces one or more photons, which could be…
We explored the efficacy of lab-grown diamonds as potential target materials for the direct detection of sub-GeV dark matter~(DM) using metallic magnetic calorimeters~(MMCs). Diamond, with its excellent phononic properties and the low…
Dark matter with mass below about a GeV is essentially unobservable in conventional direct detection experiments. However, newly proposed technology will allow the detection of single electron events in semiconductor materials with…
Direct detection strategies are proposed for dark matter particles with MeV to GeV mass. In this largely unexplored mass range, dark matter scattering with electrons can cause single-electron ionization signals, which are detectable with…
Superconducting targets have recently been proposed for the direct detection of dark matter as light as a keV, via elastic scattering off conduction electrons in Cooper pairs. Detecting such light dark matter requires sensitivity to…
We propose and study a new class of superconducting detectors which are sensitive to O(meV) electron recoils from dark matter-electron scattering. Such devices could detect dark matter as light as the warm dark matter limit, mX > keV. We…
Astrophysical dark matter particles with masses well below GeV-scale can be difficult to detect using conventional nuclear recoil experiments due to their low velocities in our Milky Way halo. Elastic scattering with high-energy cosmic rays…
Directional detection of Dark Matter particles (DM) in the MeV mass range could be accomplished by studying electron recoils in large arrays of parallel carbon nanotubes. In a scattering process with a lattice electron, a DM particle might…
We report on recent progress in the search for dark matter particles with masses from 1 MeV to 1 GeV. Several dark matter candidates in this mass range are expected to generate measurable electronic-recoil signals in direct-detection…
Dopant atoms in semiconductors can be ionized with $\sim10$ meV energy depositions, allowing for the design of low-threshold detectors. We propose using doped semiconductor targets to search for sub-MeV dark matter scattering or sub-eV dark…
The direct detection of sub-GeV dark matter interacting with nucleons is hampered by the low recoil energies induced by scatterings in the detectors. This experimental difficulty is avoided in the scenario of boosted dark matter where a…
The first direct detection limits on dark matter in the MeV to GeV mass range are presented, using XENON10 data. Such light dark matter can scatter with electrons, causing ionization of atoms in a detector target material and leading to…
Proposed dark matter detectors with eV-scale sensitivities will detect a large background of atomic (nuclear) recoils from coherent photon scattering. This background climbs steeply below $\sim10$~eVnr, far exceeding the declining rate of…
We examine in greater detail the recent proposal of using superconductors for detecting dark matter as light as the warm dark matter limit of O(keV). Detection of such light dark matter is possible if the entire kinetic energy of the dark…
We consider direct-detection searches for sub-GeV dark matter via electron scatterings in the presence of large interactions between dark and ordinary matter. Scatterings both on electrons and nuclei in the Earth's crust, atmosphere, and…